Discussion of the archaeological ethics surrounding the collecting of antiquities and archaeological material.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

SLAM Director: Question of Integrity

Mummy mask from SaqqaraSLAM Director

The Director of SLAM (Saint Louis Art Museum) is facing a dilemma. Does he believe that the Egyptian mummy mask found at Saqqara, and acquired by his museum, was in Cairo in 1966? It appears in the Cairo register.

But that would mean that the parallel collecting history, apparently supplied by the Swiss-based vendor, is little more than fiction.

And if the vendor's collecting history is fiction, then there is a lack of fact.

And the lack of fact means that the mummy mask was likely to have been removed from the Saqqara store in an irregular way.

But that means that SLAM has been using less than sound evidence to defend its position.

Is it time for the Director of SLAM to show his integrity and to start negotiating for the return of the mask?

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About Me

David Gill is Professor of Archaeological Heritage and Director of Heritage Futures at the University of Suffolk. He was a Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome and a Sir James Knott Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was subsequently part of the Department of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, and Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology, Swansea University. He holds the Archaeological Institute of America's Outstanding Public Service Award (2012).